Schweinsteiger looked top notch at the WC last summer. I don't think Alonso is in the top bracket myself though. Mascherano and Essien in terms of powerful/defensive mids could be an option. At a stretch, Yaya Toure perhaps.

If you are including Zidane, Nedved and Rui Costa as CM's then why not include the likes of Ozil in today's times? But I agree with your general consensus that there were much more quality about those times, especially the Redondo, Effenberg, Keane, Vieira type characters

Also, in which section will you put the likes of Gattusso, Riquelme and Pirlo? or were they mid-2000's?

I also think the key is that unforutnately at the turn 2010, alot of the big hitters from the 2000's are entering the twilight of their careers - Gerrard, Lampard, Cambiasso...so what I am saying in conclusion is that I am now confused if I agree or disagree with you

Rui Costa was more of a trequartista than a CM. Fantastic player though, enjoyed watching him during his Fiorentina days. There are lot of potential great CM's coming up (the likes of Sahin), but I think the role is very specialised and needs a great deal of experience to be performed properly. That's why the likes of Wilshere and M'Vila who show such promise and maturity in that position at young ages look absolutely fantastic.

Gerrard reached his peak when he played on the right hand side of the midfield or in the position behind the striker(08-09). Credit to Rafa for finding his best position.

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I'd say Gerrard's peak for Liverpool was when they won the Champion's League and FA Cup in consecutive seasons, with him playing in central midfield. Unfortunately for Liverpool, he was surrounded by utter donkeys at the time.

I'd say Gerrard's peak for Liverpool was when they won the Champion's League and FA Cup in consecutive seasons, with him playing in central midfield. Unfortunately for Liverpool, he was surrounded by utter donkeys at the time.

I'd say Gerrard's peak for Liverpool was when they won the Champion's League and FA Cup in consecutive seasons, with him playing in central midfield. Unfortunately for Liverpool, he was surrounded by utter donkeys at the time.

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His positional changes under Benitez were mind-boggling. Here you had a guy who had the potential to become a dominant CM, and instead of playing him there you play him everywhere else. Gerrard playing as a pure CM as he was coached to play under Houllier could have been absolutely fantastic..then Benitez came, fecked him around for a while until he played behind Torres.

I'd say Gerrard's peak for Liverpool was when they won the Champion's League and FA Cup in consecutive seasons, with him playing in central midfield. Unfortunately for Liverpool, he was surrounded by utter donkeys at the time.

bang on, nowadays we seem to have surplus of good CB's (with us having had more than our fairshare: Pique, Vidic, Rio, Jones, Smalling), in zidanes time only CB's stood out, Stam,Nesta, Maldini etc.
hope this area gets sorted soon, as it is the most important part of the team

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I'd probably argue that the quality of top-level centre-half through the 1990s and up till around 2000 hasn't been met since. In 2000 you had the three you mentioned plus Cannavaro, Thuram (equally at home at centre-half), Gamarra, Ayala, Desailly (on the wane but still a force), Campbell and so forth. There are a number of emerging defensive talents though - Hummels, Pique, Smalling - who may rectify that in the years to come.

Gerrard mostly played central midfield in Benitez' first season. Second one where he won pfa player of the year and the FA Cup final singlehandedly he played half the season in central midfield and half the season on the right of midfield.

This caused a lot of people to go into idiot overdrive about 'having found his best position/Gerrard belongs in central midfield', but in fact he scored more goals from central midfield that year than he did from the right though many were raving about his performances from the right.

We've started pretty much every season under benitez with the basic premise that Gerrard is a central midfielder.

But actually, I think the whole debate is a much ado about nothing. He's a great central midfielder, great rightsided midfielder and a great player in the hole. He's won player of the year in all these positions. The main reason he has been moved around is because Gerrard will be great no matter where you play him and it then becomes a question of: "do we play him in central midfield and partner crouch with Torres or do we play him behind Torres and partner Mascherano with Alonso?" This is by far the most important reason for the changes. The nonsense about his best position is basically just so much ado about nothing. I think the last time we saw his peak for an extended run was in 2008/2009. Everyone was raving about Alonso's performances but in fact Gerrard was still our best player that year. As he usually is and would have been this season as well if he hadn't been injured so much. I think Rafa's final season is the only season in a long while where he hasn't been close to a shoe-in for that tbh.

But yeah, if you include all those names from 2000, with names who weren't all at their peak at the time and then compare to the current list only with players at their peak, it's going to look sparce. I think you can include Gerrard, Lampard, Essien, Ozil, Schweinsteiger, Kaka and Fabregas in the list of current ones.

And even if you only go by their current peak, Fabregas definitely needs to be in there.

How do you judge that. He's certainly done more in the premier league then Veron did for example. Why is Veron there. In 2001 Veron was at Manchester United. I'd certainly say Carrick has played better for us than Veron has.

Each and every one of those comparisons is crazy. Unless he's just citing players that are good against other players that are good. Even still including the likes of De Rossi, Banega & Pastore is a bit weird.

Gerrard is as comfortable in central midfield as he is further forward. The most recent games against United and chelsea should be adequate proof of that.

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It bollox though. Benitez started with a Sissoko/Hamman CM, moved through Alonso/Sissoko to Alonso/Mascherano. I don't know why Liverpool fans insist on clinging to the nonsense about Gerrard being a great CM.

It bollox though. Benitez started with a Sissoko/Hamman CM, moved through Alonso/Sissoko to Alonso/Mascherano. I don't know why Liverpool fans insist on clinging to the nonsense about Gerrard being a great CM.

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because he has played a great many outstanding games in central midfield every bit as good as his performances elsewhere.

benitez did not start with Hamann/Sissoko. Sissoko came in his second season. Gerrard started far more games parrtnering one of Alonso or Hamann in the centre than he did with both of them in the lineup.

In his second season, Sissoko played mostly from the right for the first half of the season. It was only in the second half that Benitez cottoned on to the fact that Gerrard was a far better rightsided midfield than Momo and changed it around.

And in all cases, it has been a case of Gerrard moving into a position occupied by a player who wasn't working out in order to facilitate a player in another position who was working out. It has never been a question of Gerrard's own performances. The only exception to this is that against the best teams, Benitez as a rule preferred two holding midfielders in the centre.

Seriously, unless you watched Liverpool on a highly regular basis in those years I just don't think you're particularly qualified to argue the point. Being informed by the media 'analysis' on this issue doesn't give an enlighening perspective.